| Author: | Angela Padfield |
| Date of Publication: | September 2016 |
| Revision | August 2023 |
| First date of review | August 2024 |
York Learning recognises the importance in assessing the quality and level of achievement of its funded provision.Ā It is important to know that learners are progressing both personally and within the wider community context as a result of the learning they have invested in and also that our tutors are able to best support them.Ā Ā RARPA is a process which enables us to monitor achievement and progress within learning.Ā Ā Ā We record the learnerās journey on ILPs whether this is in accredited learning or non accredited learning but the term RARPA is the primary term used relating to the process of recording within non-accredited learning programmes.
ILPs stands for Individual Learning Plans which are the tool used (whether via online or in person learning) to record learners aims, progress, outcomes, and achievements.
RARPA stands for Recognising and Recording Progress and Achievement and is a staged approach to ensure that the learner is at the centre of learning and the learnerās goals are recognised and count towards the success of their learning.
This staged process has been designed to:
- Focus on and promote the needs and interests of learners;
- Take account of learnersā diverse and sometimes multiple purposes in learning;
- Allow for negotiation of the content and outcomes of learning programmes
- Encourage learners to reflect on and recognise their own progress and achievement, thus increasing their confidence;
- Promote and support informed learner self-assessment, peer assessment and dialogue about learning, achievement, and recognition of transferable skills between learners and tutors/trainers;
- Enable both the achievement of planned learning objectives and learning outcomes not specified at the outset to be recognised and valued;
- Promote good practice in teaching, learning and assessment
- Enhance providersā quality assurance and improvement practices
The staged process consists of five elements. These are:
- Aims: appropriate to an individual learner or groups of learners
As the learner applies for a course, aims are identified for the learnerās course. These are based on the needs of the learners as assessed by the tutor, learners and families and the core aims of the course - Initial Assessment
To establish the learnerās starting point an Initial Assessment is completed either at a 1-1 induction or first class/lesson identifying their starting point, any existing transferable skills, any support needs and clarifying course content. - Challenging Learning Objectives/Outcomes
Identification of appropriate objectives for the learner is an outcome of the assessment process. Ā Ā Depending on the length of the course appropriate medium term objectives may be devised that link well to the long term goals and recorded within the learnersā Individual Learning Plan (ILP). These are reviewed and updated as appropriate throughout the learnerās course. - Formative Assessment
Recognition and recording of progress and achievement during the programme takes place for all learners, through a range of methods. Ā Ā Tutorsā, learners, support and therapeutic staff record progress against short and medium term objectives. Ā Learners are supported to record achievements using the provided paperwork but usually within their ILP. Ā Ā Tutors are expected to support learners recognition of developing transferable skills which will support towards employment, life volunteering as part of assessment also. - Summative Assessment
End of programme review of overall progress and achievement. Ā This may include recognition of learning outcomes not specified during the programme and discussion about ānext stepsā for the learner.Ā Transferable skills should be celebrated at the end of all courses to empower learners.
Responsibilities and Implementation
All Tutors and support staff support learners in the recognition and recording of progress and achievements.Ā Ā Managers/teachers are responsible for monitoring elements of the RARPA framework and implementing ILPs in a format agreed with their CM. They give individual feedback to teachers about the quality of the implementation and completion of the RARPA elements and report on the overall success of the area through the self-assessment process.
Targets for improvement at an individual and organisational level are identified through self-assessment.
Curriculum Areas provide opportunities for learners to follow the 5 point RARPA process primarily in online format only, although some tutors can only use paper format due to their location and learner cohort.Ā For online only RARPA there is also provided written feedback via e-mail.
Different areas of provision may use different implementation methods but it is often via a mixture of Google Classroom and Google Docs/Forms, supplemented by wider Online learning resources such as Padlet, which encourage written feedback & social interaction.
Google Classroom enable tutors to engage in 1:1 dialogue with individual learners. Google Forms does not provide quite such detail. However, questions are reviewed and responses collated and returned to tutors, in a timely manner, in order that they can address and respond to progress/comments made, as appropriate.